


Silence in Battle

by orphan_account



Series: Stuck Inside in 2020 Works of Boredom [3]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU (Comics), Justice League - All Media Types, Young Justice (Cartoon), Young Justice - All Media Types
Genre: Adopted Children, Adopted Sibling Relationship, BAMF Batfamily (DCU), BAMF Bette Kane, BAMF Claire Clover, BAMF Stephanie Brown, Bald Claire Clover, Barbara Gordon is Oracle, Bat-Feels, Batfam are badasses, Batfamily (DCU), Battle Scenes, Bette Kane is Hawkfire, Bruce Wayne is Batman, Claire Clover is Gotham Girl, Cochlear Implants, Damian Wayne is Robin, Dead Hank Clover, Deaf Stephanie Brown, Duke Thomas is Signal, Except for like, Fight Scenes!, Gen, Jason Todd has Vocal Paralysis, Jason Todd is Red Hood, Kate Kane is Batwoman, Making new tags like this is actually super fun, Meta-Human Duke Thomas, Mute Stephanie Brown, No romo, Pet Bats, Protective Batfamily (DCU), Quiet Damian Wayne, Selectively Mute Barbara Gordon, Selectively Mute Jason Todd, Selectively Mute Tim Drake, Selectively mute dick grayson, Stephanie Brown is Spoiler, Vocal Paralysis, but that doesn't really count, but you knew that already, oh my god that's a real tag, real ones not the boring ones you're used to, selectively mute cassandra cain, two paragraphs
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-30
Updated: 2020-04-13
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:00:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 16,396
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23401870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Unknown. Unheard. Unable to speak. The Bat Clan might as well not exist beyond Batman, if you were to ask the Justice League. But they do. Silent. Soundless. Secret. They do not speak. But they are heard. Come with me. And I will tell you the secrets within these walls. Do not? And they will fade away, like a mirage. They were there... or were they?
Relationships: Batfamily - Relationship
Series: Stuck Inside in 2020 Works of Boredom [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1684453
Comments: 16
Kudos: 200





	1. Chapter 1

On a rooftop in Metropolis, seven people waited. Three girls and four boys. They had names, of course they did. But the ones they were known for were the ones they called each other now. If they ever called each other anything. Nightwing, dressed in gray and dark blue. Spoiler, in pale purple. Robin and Red Robin, dressed similarly, in red and black, with a touch of yellow. Red Hood, like a biker. Oracle, in all black, Orphan in a similar uniform.

Oracle drew her grappling gun.

She glanced around, and aimed her gun, firing it. Then, she leapt from the rooftop, swinging. Orphan was the first to follow her, aiming across the street, and swinging. Spoiler followed Oracle, and Red Robin took after Orphan. Red Hood jumped before firing his gun, and followed the four, along the street. Robin glanced up at Nightwing, who smiled reassuringly at his brother.

The younger boy rolled his eyes, and stepped up to the edge of the rooftop. He fired his grapple, swinging after his relatives, and Nightwing jumped after him, flipping through the air as the grapple retracted at the height of his swing, completely silent.

They didn't speak anymore.

* * *

They swung through the streets, high above, barely pausing on their landings, and if they did, they ran across the rooftops, or along the sides of buildings, before jumping into empty air again, and firing their grapple, tempting fate, but yet not at all.

* * *

Nightwing fell through the air, as if he were a skydiver.

They had a saying (more of an idea, considering it had never been voiced aloud). Never drop a Bird from the top floor. If you gave them enough time, they'd save themselves.

Almost lazily, he released the grapple, and kicked both legs out, swinging up high into the air, the line detaching from the building he'd grabbed onto. He'd cut it early, and barely made it to the rooftop that was their destination. He grinned at Oracle, who rolled her eyes, while Red Robin focused on the holo-computer they'd made for him a month or so before. The screen blinked out, and he turned his head to Red Hood, who crouched, starting to pick the locks. A minute later, there was a soft click, and he stepped back, gesturing theatrically towards the entrance.

Nightwing stepped forwards, pushing the door open. He held it open for the others, and they darted into the stairwell, silent. He dropped the door shut, then caught it before it could slam, closing it gently.

He vaulted over the railing, and pushed off the wall, following his siblings down the stairs.

Orphan stopped more than halfway down the building, crouching on the landing, beside the doorway, and lifting her cloak, to cover her nose and mouth. Red Robin crouched behind her, activating his computer, and Red Hood, knelt by the door, studying the lock. Oracle crouched beside Spoiler, both of them lifting their cloaks, Nightwing behind them with Robin.

Red Robin turned the computer off, and nodded to his brother, who set a small charge on the door, then hid behind Orphan.

The charge's sound was loud, amid the Bird's silence, and Orphan darted forwards, whipping open the door, as smoke filled the small space. Red Hood entered first, followed by Red Robin. Oracle and Spoiler slipped inside, Nightwing taking the rear, with Robin, Orphan letting the door stay open.

They gathered around Red Robin, who activated his computer again, showing them an image of a small object. He glanced at them, and they nodded, all darting off the moment the blue glow was gone.

* * *

Spoiler crept through the rows of metal shelves, her wrist's flashlight coming in handy. She knew exactly what she was looking for, and she searched quickly and efficiently as she scanned the shelves.

Silence was a friend, for them. She had learned how to move quietly a long time ago, before all of this. During a time that she didn't like to remember. She'd perfected it among her siblings however.

She felt the weight of her costume, comforting. Not tight on her, but firm around her. Her cloak swished around her, and her footsteps were noticeable, but just barely. Satisfying little taps, only just noticeable to her ears, comforting. The faint smell of sweat coming from her uniform, her breaths slow and even, hot as they reflected, bouncing off the inside of her face mask.

She'd lost all hearing once. She still couldn't hear without help, but her hearing aids had fixed her problem. She used to enjoy sound, but no longer. Sound was loud, annoying, and painful. Silence was far better. **(1)**

The Birds were silent. To most people.

There were other ways to communicate. Not that the Birds used the usual silent ways, unless speaking to those who couldn't understand, and even then, very little.

She heard a quiet whistle, and drew away from her shelf, darting towards the source of the sound. She found Orphan, standing by a black cube. Along the middle, was an indented border, the corners of the box smooth and curved.

It wasn't a real cube. It was smaller in height than in length. But it was close enough. Orphan glanced to Red Robin, who had appeared soundlessly, and he raised his wrist. His computer activated, and he compared the image to the object.

They all knew it was the object they needed. They didn't make mistakes, but it was their habit to double check. A good habit.

The holo vanished, and Orphan offered the box to Spoiler, who took the small object, and Orphan turned around. Spoiler pulled the cloak away, and opened the small backpack on Orphan's back, sliding the box inside, then closing the bag securely, dropping the cloth.

They glanced at Oracle, all of them, and her body language was all they needed, not even. They knew the plan.

Oracle led them back out the way they'd come, and they stood on the roof, while Red Robin turned the security back on, erasing all signs of his back door. Then, Red Hood led the way off the rooftop, while Oracle took the back, Orphan in the middle, protecting their latest snatch. Their mission was completed.

* * *

Cass spun to the music, abandoning all of her self-taught ballet training, and letting go. The song playing quietly from the laptop, 'The Times They Are A-Changin'' was pretty catchy, in her opinion. Probably why Barbara had it on the playlist.

Dick was dancing with her, and she halted her twirl, grabbing his hand again. They switched into a sort of waltz, although not really. Less confined. He lifted her into the air, and turned in a circle. She beamed, and spread her arms wide, legs straight, back slightly curved, head up, like some kind of bird.

Dick set her back down, and lifted one of her hands. Cass twirled, ponytail fluttering, and then he released her. She spun freely for a moment, perfectly controlled, before stopping. She ended in a sort of curtsy-bow, one arm across her chest, the other spread wide, head bowed.

Dick clapped for her, and himself, and the sound startled Barbara, who fumbled with her laptop, the one playing the song, narrowly keeping it from crashing onto the floor. She glared at them, and pointedly turned the volume up, so she didn't have to pay attention to them. Damian snickered, and she ignored him too.

Cass giggled, as Dick bowed to her, then backed out of the empty space of the main room, allowing her to dance alone, movements smooth and elegant, quick and slow. He perched on the couch armrest, beside Barbara, while Jason mostly ignored everyone. Or pretended to.

* * *

The Birds got changed late at night, before they headed out. Not one of them, except perhaps Stephanie and Tim, had any problem with changing in the same room.

Dick and Barbara had been raised to be immortal assassins. Damian had been raised as the perfect weapon, Jason had died, and Cass had never learned how to speak properly.

Besides, after nearly dying and having to bring each other back from the brink of death, changing together seemed almost mundane, which it sort of was. It wasn't like they didn't have underclothes. In any case, they changed, and slipped outside again, onto the rooftop. One by one, they left from the edge, following Red Robin, the nights leader.

* * *

Robin landed beside Nightwing, on the edge of the rooftop. They were waiting for a crime to occur. It wouldn't be long. Nightwing smiled at him, and he simply stared back, before he leaned back, and fell from the building, arms spread, cloak rippling around him, snapping in the wind. He watched Nightwing peek over the edge, smiling down at him.

Robin thrust his right hand out, and the line fired, anchoring itself in a building. Robin swung from the line, kicking his legs up, and detaching the cord. He rolled the moment his feet hit the ground, and sprinted across the rooftop, leaping into the air, and firing his gun off to his left, swooping through the streets.

* * *

Oracle watched as Robin flew through the air, falling towards the ground. She was watching from across the street, and smiled faintly as the boy swung, landing on a roof. He barely hesitated, swinging from that building to land on her roof.

She turned to him, as he jogged up, and then pointed across the street to Nightwing, who had his back to them, heels right up against the edge of the roof.

He jumped, flipping backwards slowly, plummeting. Robin stepped closer to Oracle, barely touching her, watching. She knew he'd never admit it, but he was worried, however slight the fear was. She said nothing, of course she didn't. But silently, she moved, assuring him that their brother would be fine.

Nightwing fired his line, swinging fast and low, then up, and high, pushing off of a nearby building. He rolled over his shoulder, stopping beside the pair, and flicking his wrists, up above his head, like a gymnasts finish. Robin snorted. Nightwing's smile only grew, then he darted forward, grabbing Robin, and jumping off the roof.

He fired his line, holding his brother close, and then at the height of his swoop, released the boy, throwing him out into empty air. A shocked laugh escaped Robin, and he twisted in the air, aiming his grapple, and releasing it. Nightwing might have laughed too, if he'd grown up with another person's life.

He hadn't.

* * *

To the public, Bruce Wayne only had three children. Dick Wayne, Barbara Wayne, and Damian Wayne. To the public, Dick and Barbara were adopted, and Damian was Bruce's blood son. As far as they knew, the elder pair were simply quiet, and had completed their education with private tutors. And that Damian simply didn't like people.

Not many people liked them though. The rich of Gotham whispered rumors about them. The children Damian attended school with gossiped about his speech patterns, his appearance, his history. They spread lies.

Most of the time, the three of them did not attend Bruce's parties and gala's. Damian did on occasion, when it was needed, but rarely. It was simply a bad idea.

Well, they did attend, if it was at the Mansion, but they mostly watched from the shadows, or security cameras. Paranoia was a b*tch.

But right now, they were spying not on the latest gala, but on the Justice League.

The League wasn't exactly aware that they existed, per say. Bruce had never told any of them his real name, and they didn't know that the Birds existed. Not really. It had come up once. Superman had asked Batman about Nightwing, who had been operating in Blüdhaven at the time. Batman had simply said he knew of him, and Superman hadn't pressed. Mostly because he'd been glared at.

" _They want to start a team."_ Green Arrow was saying, voice coming from the computer they were watching. " _I think it's a good idea."_

" _What about the clone?"_ Superman said. " _Would we put him on this team?"_

" _Do you have a better idea?"_ Green Arrow retorted, and Superman fell silent.

Cass glanced up, and Dick shrugged, not knowing the answer.

" _What kind of team?"_ Aquaman asked.

" _Covert would be the best."_ Black Canary said thoughtfully. This statement made Damian bite his lip in order not to cause damage to the space around them, or sound. There was a gala below them, and they were in the space between floors, dubbed the 'Hideout' by absolutely no one. Well, Bruce called it that. He didn't actually know where it was though. Alfred probably did, as did Alfred the Cat. Who was sitting on Damian's head, asleep.

The 'Hideout' wasn't big enough for them to sit up in, unless they were Damian, or Cass, but it was their little secret spot. It was in the old vents, that weren't actually used anymore, and the group had built a little home there. Technically, their spot was made up of where two different vents converged, then went up, so they could sit up straight there, but most of the time they just laid around, in doggy piles of blankets and each other.

Playing on Tim's computer, they had the footage from the ballroom below playing, muted. Barbara's computer was playing the security footage from the Watchtower.

Technically, the gala below wasn't hosted by Bruce, it was Kate Kane who was doing it, since 'officially' Bruce was overseas, working. Bette Kane was with them as well, watching a movie on her phone, wrapped in a blanket covered with cats. She'd fallen asleep a while ago, and considering that she was with them because she was on concussion watch or something, Cass had a hand on the girl's wrist, tracking her pulse. Although you could sleep with a concussion; the staying awake thing was a myth.

 _"They are not experienced in covert operations."_ Batman said, and Stephanie nudged Tim's shoulder. He moaned softly, not wanting to be awake any longer, and peeked out from under his blanket, eyes droopy, but still following the situation.

" _How will they learn if we don't let them?"_ Black Canary demanded.

" _I never said it was a bad idea."_ Batman soothed. " _Just that they will need training to excel at this task."_

" _I can train them."_ Black Canary said, sounding defensive.

" _I never said you couldn't. They would also need a den mother."_

" _I would be willing to do so."_ Red Tornado offered in a monotone. " _I do not eat. I do not sleep. I do not have a second life. I would be the logical choice."_

" _What about mission deployments?"_ Aquaman asked. " _Batman, would you be willing?"_

" _I would."_

Damian growled, deep in his throat, and Dick distractedly put a hand over his mouth, quieting him, while Jason sneered. _They're_ the covert team. _They're_ the ones who feed the League copious amounts of information, check over reports, fine tune files, upgrade security. _They_ create training simulations, plan the structure of board meetings, monitor those on monitor duty half the time.

Really, the only thing they don't do is meet with the Leaguers, and clean.

Unless you count programming the cleaner robots. Which they often had fights with.

Jason tugged the computer towards himself, ignoring his sisters glare, and clicked away from the live feed, onto the live transcript of the meeting instead. Nobody argued in any way, other than Barbara swatting her brother's shoulder for touching her stuff.

"What's happenin'?" Bette mumbled, as Cass tapped the back of her hand, trying to wake her up. "Is it over?"

Of course, not one of the others said anything. All the answers that she got were Cass pointing to the screen, and Damian rolling his eyes. It took a little while for her to skim the page, but she gritted her teeth once she had. Yes, she was the only person who the League knew of, other than Batwoman, who worked with Batman, and yes, she'd been one of the people to bust Superboy out, but she hadn't pushed the team thing. She didn't need to be on another team; she already had one. She'd actually shut up about it and more or less ignored the idea. **(2)**

"So, the partners are getting their team." she said thoughtfully. "What we think 'bout that?"

Dick shrugged, tilting his head where it rested, propped up on his hand. Cass set her forehead down on her arms, and Damian tutted. Barbara, Jason, and Stephanie stayed silent. Tim clucked his tongue twice, before pulling a weird face.

"Fantastic." she groaned, closing her eyes again. "Just let me sleep, would you?"

"Okay." Dick said quietly, voice hoarse from disuse. He turned, and shuffled over, pressing his back to hers. Jason closed the computer, pushing it away, then closed Tim's, setting it on top of Barbara's. He then curled up between Tim and Cass. Damian sighed, and crawled on top of Stephanie's shoulders, setting his head near the top of her spine.

Alfred the Cat yawned, tongue flicking out of his mouth, and he lept from Damian's shoulder, to Cassandra's arms, purring softly.

They didn't all sleep.

They'd meet a long time ago, most of them. Tim had met Stephanie, who was with Cass at the time, and the three of them had joined up with Barbara, Jason, Dick and Damian, who had been together for maybe a year and a half at that point. Bette had run into them, and convinced them to join up.

But when it was just them seven, they'd been worried about getting attacked, and thanks to their training, had slipped fairly easily into a monitor schedule. Half hour shifts, and like with everything, they didn't need to speak to slide into it.

They just did it.

* * *

"What is this?" Bette asked, lifting the small box that they'd retrieved four days earlier. Stephanie shrugged, from where she was in a handstand, while Dick tried to place Cass on her feet, so they could make a handstand tower. They kept failing, falling into a pile, but kept going at it. Duke slid over from where he'd been watching Tim work on a communicator.

"No idea. Damian?"

The boy looked up from his katana, and made a few signs with his hands and expressions. Duke nodded, and translated for Bette, who'd been turning the box over in her hands. "Some kind of EMP virus. Lexcorp."

"Because of course."

"Is this the only one?"

Damian glared at them, and then nodded. Duke shut up. Spending time around the others had the habit of causing him, Bette, Claire, and even Kate to become quieter and quieter. He'd actually found himself trying to talk to people at school using the silent language they had, which was different from the hand signs, which were only really used in the field. Needless to say, nobody had noticed, but it had been embarrassing all the less.

"Why in the world would someone make that?" Bette asked, trying to pry the box open by her fingertips.

"Lex is insane." Claire pointed out, from where she was trying to traverse the rope course with one hand. She'd refused to use her abilities since Hank's death, her hair shaved down to her scalp. It'd only just started to grow back as stubble, since she hadn't reshaved it recently, unlike her usual weekly cut.

Now she just had to adapt to working without them.

"True." Barbara rasped, causing everyone to look at her. Cass slipped, and both she and Stephanie crashed to the ground, causing Dick to land on both of them. Cass squawked, and batted at his back with her fists, although it was playful. Not that that meant much against the boy who'd almost become a Talon. He rolled off, tugging her off with him.

There was a noise of metal on metal, a faint one, and they all turned to look at where the Batmobile (they couldn't actually blame Dick for that one, like Duke had wanted to, since a random little kid had named it instead) drove in.

Claire gave up on her one-armed mission, and started to wrap the rope around herself in such a way that it supported her weight without her effort, but was still loose, like a belt or harness. She then swung herself upside down, and wrapped her leg and ankle around the rope, supporting herself upside down. **(3)**

The three on the ground scrambled to their feet, staring at the car as it came to a stop, and Barbara leaned back in her chair, looking past the array of computers. Tim didn't look up, and Damian only gave the car a glance, before going back to his katana. Out of the car came Jason, who had half his helmet missing, exposing his mask and upper cheek.

From the other side of the car, came Kate, dressed in her armoured black uniform, bright red bat and hair. She tugged her cowl off, exposing her jet black faux hawk style, which was slightly squashed from the form fitting cowl. "We are talking about this."

"What happened?" Bette asked, setting the box down on the desk and moving towards her aunt. Duke gave the box a glance, and then followed her.

Jason shook his head, trying to pry his helmet off. He must have been hit, or hit something around the release, otherwise he wouldn't be trying to break the metal off with a screwdriver. Silently, Cass slid over to him, and using one hand, guided him to a seat, while her other tugged the object from his hand.

"Jason was trying to find the Joker." Kate said, greeting her niece with a small elbow bump, before continuing to walk. "And instead he found Black Mask."

Cass swatted her brother, then with a popping sound, broke a chunk of metal as long as a pencil, and as wide as the handle of the screwdriver off. It clattered onto the ground, and she absently nudged it away with her foot, still working on the helmet.

Barbara spun her chair around, rising to her feet, and Claire fumbled with the knot she was trying to do, and it fell to pieces. She was stretched out, one knee brought up, the other straight, ankle locked, while her arms reached down. "Say what?"

Barbara stormed over to Jason, just as Cass wrenched a massive chunk, exposing the majority of his left side. As it came free, a few smaller bits were bent to the outside, like tiny spikes, still clinging to the helmet. She pushed Cass out of her way, a silent order for the younger, twelve-year-old to find a better tool to work with. And then she took Jason's head in her hands, and forced him to look up at her.

A thumb ran across his cheek, and Jason tried to pull away. Barbara didn't let him, even as Stephanie appeared with a crowbar, which was promptly pulled away by Duke, before she could try and use it. She glared at him, but then went to put it away. A moment after, she darted after Kate as she went into the changing rooms.

Cass came back up with a small throwing dagger, and Barbara stepped away, letting her sister trace several paths on Jason's head, and then slash at the helmet with the dagger. She had enough force behind it to crack the metal, since it was far weaker once compromised, and after three hits, on three separate locations on the helmet, the entire thing shattered, falling to the ground. Jason made a few gestures at them, and sighed without noise, then Barbara kicked him out, and into the change rooms.

Cass gathered the helmet bits in her hands, and held them out to her sister, who selected one chunk, then Cass vanished to dispose of the rest. Barbara pried a small square sticker-like object from between the two layers of the helm, and carefully placed it on a scanner, sliding it into the computer. She threw out the rest of it, and pulled up the GPS tracker on it.

Of course it'd been disabled. F*cking Jason.

By the time Barbara had finished her viewing session of the chip, Jason had been herded upstairs by Cass and Stephanie, who'd also dragged a sleep-deprived Tim away. Kate had gotten Claire down before she'd fallen on her head, and Damian had been lured upstairs by his cat, Alfred the cat.

Barbara tapped Dick on the shoulder, and when he turned, she threw a punch. He narrowly avoided it, and the two started to spar.

* * *

Dick flipped over Barbara, and she jumped away as he swept his leg, throwing herself backwards, into a handspring. She landed, adopting a fighting position, and he darted forwards. His first punch was blocked, and she ducked the second, throwing her own. He grabbed her arm, and turned, throwing her over his shoulder.

Her feet hit the ground, and she grunted, using the momentum to throw him. Dick rolled, back up onto his feet, and dodged her first kick, blocking the second, before slamming a flat palm into her shoulder, pushing her to the ground, and falling after her, pinning her. She grunted, and twisted, rolling them over, so she was on top.

Dick pulled his legs up, wrapping them around her neck, and locking his ankles. He slammed her on the training mats, then easily pulled himself up, and transitioned into an armbar. When she didn't surrender, he pulled it a bit harder, testing the limits of her arm.

She tapped his leg twice, and he released, standing up, and offering her his hand. She took it with the arm he hadn't tried to break, and he pulled her up. She smiled, rubbing her arm, and he winced sheepishly, before she pushed him playfully away, towards the change rooms, and wrinkled her expression. He snorted, pointing to her, and mimicking her expression. She changed her expression to a glare, before he quickly escaped into the change room. Soon followed by his sister.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (1) Stephanie lost her hearing at one point, and now wears a set of hearing aids. I know a couple people with hearing aids, and they're kind of annoying. You can't wear them in water, you can't have earbuds in, you have to have headphones on. The batteries die, there's a lot. That's something we're probably going to get into a some point, but it's not going to be massive.
> 
> (2) Bette essentially takes over Robin's general role in Young Justice S1. She's not Batman's partner, she's Batwoman's, as Hawkfire. I did originally write her as Flamebird, but self-corrected halfway through, so yeah, that's wrong.
> 
> (3) As for Claire's bit in the ropes, that's something you can actually do. I'm not someone who specialises in silks, so I've never done anything like that, but I've watched people do it and learned some things and done some things. Mostly given myself silk burns from falling or losing my grip. You can do this in ropes as well, but I've never seen that done in person, or done it. I do not, in any way suggest doing this without proper instruction and a professional, for it can be very dangerous.
> 
> For the record, all the kids, other than Claire, Duke, and Bette are mute in some way. The idea is that Dick and Barbara speak very little because they were taught to remain silent by the Court of Owls. (No healing factor) Tim because when Jason came back, he tried to kill Tim, and slashed his throat, resulting in damaged vocal cords. He can speak, but he doesn't like it, and does so sparingly, and quietly. Jason's verbal memory muscles (I need a better description) were damaged when he was brought back to life. Cass has her usual reason, and Damian speaks very little, not wanting to. Stephanie became deaf at one point, and stopped speaking, since she struggled to regulate her volume. By the time she got her hearing back, she had either developed a mental block, and was unable to speak, or simply forgot how to, it's unclear.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hawkfire and the Team. She's pretty awesome in this, like really BAMF and cool.

"Hey, Claire, I found Matilda."

Claire turned towards Bette, who was tangled in one of the ropes, in such a way that she wouldn't fall. In her hands, a small furry brown creature rested. Matilda, one of the many of bats that lived in the cave systems, was held in her hands, big brown eyes blinking down at her.

Stephanie shuffled over, looking up as Bette guided the trained animal to her shoulders, and scrambled down the ropes, down to the ground.

The animal was small, small enough to be held comfortably between the girls hands, with big doe-like eyes and wings. Together, there were exactly forty-seven trained bats that lived in the cave. Matilda was one of the younger ones, who hung around only sometimes, but seemed to be linked to Claire, much to their amusement. But everyone had at least one bat they liked, from Cherry, the creature that clung to Cass, to Techie, the bat that Tim had trained to be able to find certain tools based on different patterns he tapped out.,

Gently, Bette handed Matilda over, and Claire held the bat up. They went through regular tests to make sure their health was up to date. "Hey."

The bat made a small squeaking noise, and squirmed slightly in Claire's grasp. Her little fangs gleamed in the light, and her big brown eyes were adorable. Claire grinned, and held the bat up to her shoulder, like one might with a bird. With a couple noises, Matilda crawled onto Claire's shoulder, fur soft and warm. Her claws pinched the girls skin, poking holes in the beat up purple Quebec City shirt she had on, and her breath was hot on Claire's neck.

The moment was ruined by the computer going haywire. An alarm went off, a thrumming, chiming noise. Everyone was used to it, even the bats, so Matilda didn't even flinch at the noise.

"Um… guys?"

It was Duke who spoke, sounding uncertain, from the other end of the line. Bette and Claire gravitated towards the computer, along with Barbara and Tim, who'd been working on some project. Bette pressed a few keys, and spoke aloud, into the mike.

"We hear you. What's up?"

_"Giant plant… thingy. I think Ivy has something to do with it - look out!"_

There was a pause from the other end, and the members in the cave exchanged looks. Then, Duke's voice came back. _"I need help. Pronto, this ain't going well!"_

"10-4." Bette confirmed. "Sending alert to the others. ETA eleven minutes, Cass is closer, ETA four minutes. Be there ASAP."

 _"Awesome."_ Duke grunted. _"Thanks."_

* * *

"Computer, national news."

Batwoman, following her brother (the team had been told they were siblings, not married, they'd been specific) didn't speak, her bright, bloody-red hair barely moving as she walked after him. The Team rarely saw the elusive Gotham vigilante, nor their niece, Hawkfire, despite the girl being a member of the Team. ( **1)**

"Whoa." Wally said, as the news paused. "Should we get out there?"

"No."

"What? Why?"

The two Bats exchanged looks. Batman continued to speak. "The League and its allies will handle the plants. You have another mission."

Right then, the computer announced a new arrival, the Zeta Tubes whirring to life. Everyone but the Bats turned to look at the orange light, as a new figure materialized into place.

_"Recognized. Hawkfire. K-02."_

The girl who came through the Zeta Tubes wore black. Jet black, and gold. Gold shoes, like strapless ballet slippers, and a sort of feathered shawl around her shoulders with a small, stiff cape hanging from the back. A thick looking pair of heavy wrist protectors, and gloves, her face plate just as gold as the rest. Her blond hair was hanging around her shoulders for once, something that never happened.

"It's under control." she assured her aunt, who silently stepped to be beside her. "Gotham is secure."

With that, she continued on, heading for the hanger, glancing over her shoulder. "Unless you have a hair tie, I'll be finding one, so see you in a few." ( **2)**

Batwoman didn't speak, giving a single glance at her brother, and vanished through the Zeta Tube, with the single message of; "Recognised. Batwoman. K-01."

* * *

"Who are you?" Zatanna asked, the moment Hawkfire joined them on the bioship, taking a seat, not blinking when the seatbelt wrapped across her chest. The blond turned to face her, a quiet smile on her lips. Her blond hair was held back in a ponytail once more, and the grime that had been on her uniform was gone. An impressive achievement, considering she'd only been gone for ten minutes, while the Team had been briefed on the mission.

"Hawkfire. Thought the announcement made that _pretty_ clear."

"That's not what I meant, and you know it."

"Hawkfire's Batwoman's niece." Wally offered. "She's from Gotham."

"No duh." Hawkfire muttered, crossing her arms over her chest. "My job here is to blow up the facility, drag Joker and Ivy back to Gotham to throw them in jail _again_ , and keep all of you guys alive. And considering normally I'm the one being kept alive, that should tell you how scared you should be."

"We're not scared." Artemis said firmly, and Hawkfire spun her chair around to look at the archer. Only her lower face was visible from under her mask, but she gave the impression of being unimpressed.

"Of course not." she said, eyes burning into the green-clad girl. "We've met, you know. It was a while ago, but we've met."

Artemis bristled, but Hawkfire simply waved a hand through the air, as if shooing smoke away. "Don't worry. My entire gig is setting fire to things, kicking asses, and keeping secrets. Besides. Who knows, I might give myself away, hmm?"

With that, Hawkfire turned back to face the front. "Also, plan B is a horrible plan, Aqualad. It shouldn't come to that, not if we do it right."

Everyone else turned to their leader, who glanced down at a duffel bag at his feet. Nobody said anything, dead silent, until M'gann spoke up. "Approaching destination. Entering camouflage mode."

Hawkfire said nothing, but lifted her knee up to her chest, slipping her hand onto her shoe. She withdrew a small, stamp-shaped thing, and took a breath, tucking it into the feathers around her shoulders, by her heart. Then, she put her foot back down on the floor, and set her arms on the armrests of her seat, perfectly still. She let out a breath, and nobody who didn't know her like her family would notice just how terrified she was. How tense she was.

Deception was an art form, after all.

M'gann grunted. Wally turned in his seat, to look at her. "You okay?"

She lifted a hand to her temple. "Dizzy."

"You're airsick?" Artemis asked, curious.

"Not me, her."

Zatanna shook her head at the looks she got. "I'm fine. Hawkfire?"

"I haven't been airsick since I was ten." the Gotham vigilante replied, eyes narrowing behind her mask. "This is something else."

"The bioship." M'gann murmured. "She's trying to protect us."

Hawkfire stood up abruptly, her harness melting away. She gripped the back of her chair. "Vertigo, it's got to be -"

The bioship shook, wavering in the air, and Hawkfire stumbled away from her seat, struggling to keep her balance as they dipped through the air. She managed to do something though, planting her feet and managing to stay in one place as they plummeted.

Something slammed into the bottom of the bioship, and Hawkfire grunted as she was sent into the ceiling, before landing on the floor in a deep crouch. They crashed into murky water, and vines wrapped around the ship, visible through the ship's front. Something landed on them, and Hawkfire's head snapped up, as Black Atom started to pry the ceiling apart.

M'gann screamed, and Hawkfire whipped out some kind of taser. She fired, and it clipped around the front of their attackers neck, like a sort of choker. She jammed a button, and the collar exploded, sending Black Atom flying backwards.

The device useless, Hawkfire discarded it, as water started to pour in, filling the bioship with swampy fluid. Artemis growled furious. "Oh, no way. Not drowning, again."

She pulled out a rebreather, and stuck it between her teeth, like it was a scuba regulator. Then, she offered Wally her spare. He stared at her for a moment, before taking it. "Thanks."

"Open a hatch on the floor!" Hawkfire shouted, pulling out her own rebreather. "We have to swim out, do it now!"

"Got it!" M'gann cried, and gills formed around her neck, as they all ducked underwater. Hawkfire shoved a rebreather into Zatanna's mouth, holding it in place and flushing it for the magician, who lifted a hand to it in surprise. Her eyes squinted through the muck, unable to see, so Hawkfire grabbed her around the shoulders, and towed her, her mask protecting her own eyes.

They all swam through the hatch M'gann created, ducking under the ship, and surfacing on the far end of the water, many of them panting. Zatanna rubbed her eyes, gasping for air, until Hawkfire pulled her hands away from her face. Instead, she gently tapped each of the magician's eyelids with a finger, then allowed her to open them. **(3)**

"Whoa." Zatanna muttered. "Cool trick."

Hawkfire shrugged, taking her rebreather out, and looking to M'gann, who was staring at the bioship as it sank, pulled down by thick vines. "She'll need time to recover."

"It's Vertigo, Ivy, and Black Adam." Hawkfire said, squeezing her ponytail out onto the ground. "We need to -"

She paused, and then suddenly threw herself at Zatanna, knocking the girl to the ground. Just in time as well, for the shrill whistling humm of Count Vertigo's ability rocked through the woods, causing a sort of mirage in the air. The rest of the team grunted as they fought back against the headache inducing skill, but only the two girls had escaped.

There was a sort of duller, lower-pitched ringing in Hawkfire's head, and she ignored it, on her feet instantly and drawing two throwing stars. She yelled as she threw them, an instinct ingrained in her from martial arts, where the yell gave more power to the hit, and almost hit Vertigo. Would have, if Black Adam hadn't landed between the two. **(4)**

 _[Miss Martian!]_ Kaldur's voice shouted in everyone's minds. _[Hawkfire! Disappear!]_

Without a second thought, Hawkfire charged directly at Black Adam, as M'gann shifted into camouflage mode, nearly invisible. Hawkfire kicked off a nearby rock, like it was a springboard, pushing off with her hands and flying over Black Adam, landing on Vertigo feet first. Before Black Adam could hit her, she dove to the side, rolling up to her feet, and slid into the shadows, gone.

 _[Whoa.]_ Artemis whispered in the link, just before it vanished. _[She's good.]_

* * *

[ _I cut the others out of the link._ ] M'gann worried, as Hawkfire led her through the jungle. Despite not having any powers, M'gann continuously lost sight of the human girl, only knowing she was around through the link. [ _Should we go back for them?_ ]

[ _No, they're fine. They won't be killed, that's not this group's gig. Joker only kills when he thinks it'll do something to me and - my uncle and aunt. Ivy rarely goes that far, she's one of the more laid-back villains. Black Adam's kills are mostly accidents. Wotan rarely does anything.]_

 _[What about the Skull?_ ]

_[Atomic Skull? Eh, he's the one I'd be worried about.]_

_[So we should go back?]_

_[Not the mission, Miss Martian. This is the mission.]_

She brushed aside fauna, parting leaves to reveal the building ahead. _[The plant must be controlling the plants - it's an antenna!]_

She suddenly tensed, then cried out, in time with M'gann, as vines wrapped around them both, lifting them up, and turning them around. Poison Ivy smirked at the pair, fingers tensed, holding the vines in place. "My darling Hawkfire. Good-bye."

 _[Forgot about the gorilla.]_ Hawkfire muttered sheepishly. _[Whoops.]_

The large creature aimed his weapon at the girl, who glared right back at him. A moment passed, as he steadied his aim, and then she broke free, arms tearing through the vines.

Spikes had come out of the sides of her gauntlets, and she ripped through the plants, falling to a crouch on the muddy ground. M'gann broke free in her own way, using telekinesis to snap the base of the vines, and entered camouflage mode.

Ivy growled, turning to see the human vigilante sprinting away through the woods, short cape trailing her, stiff as ever. "Sorry, girlie. But I can't let you leave."

She summoned vines, and with a yell, sent them towards Hawkfire, who, hearing the shout, jumped forwards. She kicked off a tree trunk, and twisted in the air, flying at the vines.

Hawkfire skidded across the top of the plants, like a snowboarder, drawing a pair of throwing stars from her pouches. Executing a handless cartwheel over another vine, she flipped backwards in a layout, releasing both stars with a flick of her wrists, launching them at Ivy.

The Gotham villain brought both hands up, and both stars sunk into another vine. With a shout, Ivy sent that vine at Hawkfire, who sprinted forwards at it without hesitation, mind blank, the thrill of battle everything.

It was the perfect mindset to be in during a fight. It happened in sports as well, sometimes called a white spot, when you just acted, and often didn't recall what happened. Everything just worked.

Hawkfire was in that mode, as she jumped again, kicking off a tree and hand springing over the vine, kicking off another tree. She flipped backwards in a tuck, and drew another pair of pure black shurikens in midair. Landing, she bent backwards, flinging her weapons.

She spun around, in a crouch, and released another set of projectiles, aiming at Ivy's feet instead of her face. Continuing her motion as she rose, still turning, she launched a fifth and final projectile, that sliced off a lock of Ivy's hair.

Ivy screamed in fury, and started to slash her hands through the air, the vines responding to her movements. And Hawkfire moved.

She slid on her knees under the first, grabbed onto the edge of the second, letting it pull her along, and rolled onto it, in a crouch. The vine slammed into a tree, and the two women stared at each other, in a tiny microsecond of a lull, before a half dozen more vines shot at Hawkfire.

Hawkfire threw herself upwards, activating her jetpack. It was something barely anyone actually knew about her. It was part of her gig as well, fire coming from the edges of her 'cape' propelling her up. It couldn't keep her airborne for more than a few minutes at a time, but she used it often, to get a boost in height, speed, distance, and to soften landings, activating it at the last second.

She flipped over the vines, twisting in the air, upside down for a moment, the jetpack clicking off. She aimed both her gauntlets, now spike-less, at the vines, and twin beams of fire blasted, setting them on fire. The gauntlets clicked off, and she landed in a crouch on a still vine. Instantly, she threw herself into a back handspring, before she whirled, and launched a different shuriken.

This one sunk into yet another vine, and just before Ivy could throw the vine at Hawkfire, the device blew up, the concussive wave knocking Ivy off balance. Hawkfire took her opportunity, throwing a handful of small objects at the woman's feet, and they splashed in the water, before Hawkfire vanished.

Ivy was up in moments, and started to step forwards, only to crash to the ground, the objects Hawkfire had left behind doing their job. _Makibishi_ , small spikes that were thrown on the ground in feudal Japan to discourage and slow down pursuers.

Hawkfire, like people hundreds of years before, lost her attacker with a simple trick, preying on the weak soles of Ivy's shoes.

* * *

_[Lost Ivy. You?]_

_[I'm okay.]_ M'gann replied, sounding strained. _[Where are you?]_

_[At the building. Meet you by the plants!]_

M'gann rose higher into the air, searching the horizon for the building. It wasn't too hard to notice the building, and she started towards it in camouflage mode, skimming the tops of the trees. Mud splattered her clothing, and she wasn't in the mood to get rid of it just yet, focused on the mission. She lifted her hood over her face, more of a comfort then for any practical reasons, and sped up.

* * *

She found Hawkfire on the edge of the woods. _[What's the plan?]_

Hawkfire grinned up at her - although how she knew where M'gann was, the martian didn't know. _[Meet me on the roof.]_

M'gann frowned, not understanding how the Gotham native would get up there on her own, but Hawkfire left her hiding spot, sprinting quietly across the clearing, throwing a small object halfway there. It hit something on the wall. M'gann, who'd been following Hawkfire, spotted the small crackle of electricity, but didn't think much of it. Hawkfire stopped beside the panel she'd nearly hit, and worked the weapon out of the concrete, sliding it away.

She took a few steps backwards, and then charged forwards. She kicked off the wall with her hands and feet, boosting herself higher, then kicked off, throwing herself almost halfway up. Then, just before she started to fall, she activated her jetpack.

It was only on for a moment, before turning off, but it was enough to give her a boost, letting her grab the edge of the roof, and roll onto it. Hawkfire turned, in a crouch, and grinned a M'gann. _[Never bet against me. Trust me, you will lose.]_

M'gann nodded, and followed the vigilante across the roof. Hawkfire stopped at the base of the plant, and hummed to herself. Then, she reached to her pouches, and pulled one off, handing it to M'gann. _[These all blow up. Place them like this.]_

A mental image of the plant, with little glowing dots all over the top half, entered M'ganns mind, and the martian grinned, getting the plan. She rose up higher, and started to plant the explosives. Meanwhile, Hawkfire drew her own shurikens from hidden compartments all over her uniform, and started to launch them upwards, sinking them into the plant.

* * *

_[Done?]_

Hawkfire nodded, expression blank, and flicked her hand over her shoulder, throwing a final explosive, without so much as a glance. It sunk into the final blank slot, and she grinned, stepping up to the edge of the roof, beside M’gann, who shimmered into view.

Below them, she saw Poison Ivy turn, seeing the explosives. She couldn’t hear the woman, but she could imagine what she’d said. Without any emotion, she brought a single finger down on her opposing gauntlet, triggering the specially made bombs.

“Boom.” she deadpanned, putting her hand on her hip. Ivy screamed, and summoned a wave of vines, the tips razor sharp. She sent them streaking towards the two girls. M’gann rose into the air, moving between Hawkfire and the plants, and slammed her hands forwards, creating a wall of telekinetic energy, that the plants shattered against.

Hawkfire turned, hearing something, and ducked the first swipe that Joker took at her head, standing back up instantly, and blocking him by the wrist, fingers wrapping around his wrist. His face was a sneer.

“Children.” he snarled, and she narrowed her eyes at him. “Children foiled our plan! Not even your children!”

He brought up his foot, trying to knee Hawkfire in the gut, but she grabbed onto his wrist with both hands, and ducked under it, avoiding the kick and coming up on the other side, kicking out herself. She landed the hit on his hip, and dropped his hand, taking several steps back. He wasn’t focused on M’gann at all, who was dealing with Ivy. He was zeroed in on Hawkfire, which was fine with her. She’d survive the encounter; the others wouldn’t, not one on one. Joker was unpredictable, the only reason she could hold herself against him was practice. Fight someone enough, and you learned their tells.

And she was one of the best martial artists in the world.

That definitely helped.

She drew her own weapon, a kunai. Another Japanese weapon, her kunai had a three-dimensional diamond shaped blade, and a straight hilt, ending in a small circle, so that she could spin it around her finger.

She started to fight.

Fighting Joker took everything. You couldn’t think of anything else, and you either were 150% focused on him, or in the zone, and she was in the first one, unfortunately. The battle was fast-paced, both combattants blurs, and Hawkfire slashed and stabbed, blocked and kicked and flipped and slid and spun, everything thrown into the moment. She punched at his face, and he blocked. She activated the fire on that hand, and he ducked out of the way, kicking at her shins.

Hawkfire flipped backwards, knees tucked in. She needed more space, so she did a back handspring the moment she landed, and then a backwards layout, boosting her distance with the jetpack, and landing in a fighting stance, kunai held defensively.

Joker wore an insane grin, and Hawkfire kept going.

She switched tactics, stepping in and kicking out sideways, directly at his chest. The move managed to catch him off guard, and started to use her arms more, letting her feet do the footwork on their own. She threw elbows, jabs, and didn’t kick once, managing to grab in him a move from judo, and throw both of them off the roof.

There was a yell from someone, and she twisted in the air, letting go of the man, and firing a graphle. It jerked her arm, stopping her fall, and then she let go, landing feet first on Joker and slamming the hilt of her kunai into his temple, twice.

She coughed, sliding the kunai into her belt. Pulling out a set of handcuffs, she chained him up and stumbled off the man, managing to get several steps away before collapsing into the muck.

“Hawkfire!”

The shout came from Zatanna, who seemed - to Hawkfire’s exhausted and slightly oxygen deprived brain - appear from nowhere. 

“Hey.” the magician said calmly, helping Hawkfire stand up. “You alright?’

The blond’s ponytail had come loose, her hair tie gone again, and she sighed, holding one hand to her ribcage, near her waist. “Yeah. I’ll be fine.”

“Why don’t I believe you?”

“Because my entire life is a lie.” Hawkfire murmured, lowering her hand and standing up straight. “A lot like yours actually.”

“My life isn’t a lie.”

Hawkfire scoffed, looking over at Zatanna. Then, she reached up, and ducked her head. Her fingers fiddled with the straps of her mask, and she removed it, shaking her hair loose of the strap that had held it on. She looked up at Zatanna, smiling faintly.

“You won’t know me anyways.” she said quietly, gesturing towards the black bruise flowering around her left eye. Her lip was split, and her nose slightly bloody. Her eyes were a dull green, almost grey. “I ain’t nobody.”

Zatanna had to admit, she didn’t know who Hawkfire could be. With a sigh, the vigilante finger combed her hair back, and replaced her mask, fastening it around her hair, keeping it down, like the straps on swimming goggles did.

“The League.” Artemis said, drawing everyone’s attention to the sky, where indeed, the majority of the League was descending from. The Team members exchanged looks as the League landed, taking places around the clearing. Batwoman stepped forwards, surveying the damages.

“Report.”

Hawkfire stood up straight, looking confident, and her hand slid out of Zatannas. “We encountered Vertigo, Black Adam and Poison Ivy upon arriving. Miss Martian and I, upon Aqualads orders, left the group, and were ordered to complete the mission. We encountered Ivy and Ultra-Humanite, managing to lose them, and set charges on the plant that was acting as an antenna. The rest of the team was captured by Wotan, Black Adam, and Count Vertigo, only to escape prior to the execution of the plant. We fought the Injustice League and managed to subdue them all.”

The report was clean, efficient and to the point. Nothing more, nothing less.

Batwoman nodded. “Good.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (1) I’m aware of the fact that Kate and Bruce are cousins, but they told the JL that they’re siblings, for extra identity protection. I’m sure that people would ask if they’re married during interviews and such, and unless they were like, ‘we’re related’ they’d be shipping them and such. (Not that that stops people, ew.) So they just tell the public they’re siblings.  
> (2) This is referring to hours, not minutes.  
> (3) This is something I actually do, a friend showed me it. I’m not sure how it works, but it does, and it helps. I think it dislodges part of the water that gets trapped between your eyeball and eyelids, but I could definitely be wrong, so don’t take my word for it. And it works better if you close your eyes, surface, tap, then open your eyes.  
> (4) Yep. The yell is from martial arts, and that is the reason, and it does work like that. Seriously, I’m not joking, it’s not just films and TV. If someone is’t making noise when they fight, either they’re crazy, haven’t been traditionally trained, or are mute. In my experience. That or scared to yell.
> 
> For those of you wondering about Bette’s essential 180 in terms of attitude, she’s used to working with the Bats. Not with the Team, so she’s acting differently. I’m sure you guys act differently in different places with different people, so that’s just to assure you she’s not gone nutty. And yes, I totally did give Bette her own gear. I was going to give her chakram’s as her main throwing weapon, but those are kind of big. Most of them Japanese in origin (since she can actually speak a fair bit of Japanese, I’m fairly certain). This is me taking creative liberty, and I’m fairly certain the jetpack is too, since I can’t actually find any websites confirming that she can use it like that, only images. And also, fun fact: shuriken literally means ‘hidden hand blade’. 
> 
> And for those of you who know that Bette’s eyes are actually blue; good job. Colored contacts. The good kind, the bad ones are crazy obvious.
> 
> And lastly; don't expect another chapter tomorrow. I've been working on the idea for this one since I posted Chp. 1 over on FanFic.net, so that's why it's so quick, and I also got super-inspired. Wish all my chapters were writtent his fast, but they aren't.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Claire meets Harley.
> 
> Harley meets jo.
> 
> Duke meets tanto.
> 
> Sportsmaster meets paku and karambit.
> 
> Spoiler finds her hearing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have no idea how I'm writing these this fast. Guess I'm inspired for once, huh?

Gotham Girl landed on a warehouse roof, her boots clanging slightly. She winced, making a mental note to speak to Orphan about more stealth lessons, before she darted across the ceiling, to one of the skylights.

“Honestly, people are so stupid.” she grumbled, pulling a tool from alongside her boot cuff, and picking the lock. She put it away, and carefully lifted the pane, propping it up with care. Silently, she hooked one grappling hook to the edge of the skylight, and climbed over the edge, lowering herself. 

She landed in a crouch, and detached the hook, letting the wire scroll back in, like a tape measure. Then, she clipped it back to her waist, and started to search the space.

Brushing her gloves along one of the plastic wrapped packages, she took a sniff of the white powder remaining on her fingertips. Then coughed. “Drugs. Ew.”

The entire building had some kind of drug or substance or something on the feeble metal shelves that lined it like bookcases at a library. Weed. Coke. Heron. Beer. Even, for some reason, an entire row of orange flavoured Tic Tac’s. Gotham Girl was fairly certain those didn’t count as a drug, but she made a note of it anyways.

Then, there was a screeching, creaking noise, from the main entrance to the warehouse, and her head jerked around, eyes narrowing in on the growing beam of light that jackknifed it’s way into the warehouse—into the aisle she was in.

Gotham Girl immediately moved, darting through the aisles, and keeping her eye on the entrance, where footsteps were coming from. High heels? No, no high heels, but they had some kind of heel. So likely a woman—although she wasn’t about to dismiss the possibility of a drag queen, she’d seen crazier things. Although drag queens in drag were technically female, right? She couldn’t remember.

Creeping forwards, she realised it wasn’t a drag queen, nor was it a man. It was Harley Quinn. Dressed in ripped jeans, boots, and a ragged crop top, that probably had some kind of profanity on the front, the woman looked odd. Her hair was tied back in a ragged braid, and as Gotham Girl moved closer, she could see the baseball bat the woman carried in better light.

Stepping into the aisle that Harley was in, she could hear the woman, very clearly. She was humming an odd song, one that Gotham Girl hadn’t heard, or at least, couldn’t remember ever hearing.

Almost immediately forgetting about the sound, Gotham Girl pulled a small canister from the back of her hips, clicking down on one end of it, and quickly withdrawing her thumb. It was a _jo_ , a simple four-foot long staff from aikido, and her preferred weapon. Usually, they were wooden, and Gotham Girl preferred the wooden ones, but they hadn’t figured out how to make a wooden one that she could carry like she could carry the metal one.

She just had to deal with it.

Planting her feet, Gotham Girl settled into a defensive stance. “Hey!”

Harley turned, eyes lighting up at the prospect of fighting with one of the Gotham Bat’s. She grinned, starting to move towards Gotham Girl, who was a good deal shorter than the criminal. Harley spun her bat around with both hands, and it collided with Gotham Girl’s own weapon, in the space between her hands. The blond grunted, and shoved Harley off, bringing one end of the staff up to strike Harley below the chin.

The thing about using a jo, was that it wasn’t used like a conventional staff; at least, not how Gotham Girl used it. She jabbed with it, and not like a spear. With one hand on the butt end, her other on the other end, she pushed the staff forwards with her back hand, supporting it with a light grip with her front hand. It wasn’t a style most people could fight against, simply because barely anyone in Gotham had ever faced it. 

Until Gotham Girl had come around.

She withdrew the staff after her first strike, and followed up quickly, with another jab, hitting Harley in the gut, where her diaphragm was. Perfect for winding her. Then, she continued the move, jabbing behind her (which was more of a habit then anything) and keeping her hands in their positions, so one was at one end, one partially down the metal. And she swung it forwards, hitting Harley in the side of the leg, just below her hip bone.

Harley was fast to recover though, and the younger vigilante knew that, prompting her to quickly follow up the first set of moves, with another trio of them.

She jabbed forwards again, catching Harley in the chest, near her heart, and then stepped back, drawing the jo above her head at an angle, deflecting Harley’s swing, before she switched her hand positions, and brought them closer together. Then, swiftly, she brought the staff down on the woman’s skull.

Harley Quinn stumbled back, and Gotham Girl silently cursed how durable the woman was. Then, she stepped forwards, staff in one hand, and kicked out sideways, straight into Harley’s chest, propelling her to the ground. She kicked the wooden bat away, and put a boot on Harley’s chest, staff aimed at her throat.

“What.” she growled, having no patience for any bullshit the woman might pull. “Are you doing here?”

Harley spat at her, and Gotham Girl smacked her with the end of her staff, across the cheek. She didn't say anything else - Harley had been around long enough to know what she wanted.

“Just lookin’ for a high!” the woman assured her. Gotham Girl’s eyes narrowed from behind the domino mask. She’d changed her uniform, from the skirt and long cape and cowl to what it was now. A black uniform, with dark blue armour on her legs, across her chest and back and shoulders, and black army boots. The domino was one of Nightwings old ones, seemingly black, until you saw it in the light, where it became clear that there were dark blue streaks in it.

She didn’t have her former yellow symbol on anymore. No bat, no Gotham, no bird, nothing.

“Lie.” she hissed, and Harley grinned maniacally.

“Nothing like a bit of -” she started to reach out to grab a package from a nearby shelf, but Gotham Girl jabbed her jo into the woman’s palm, and pressed down. Harley shut up.

“I know who’s place this is.” she tried instead. “Belongs to crazy face.”

Because that cleared it up. Gotham Girl made sure to communicate her amusement through the mask. Harley, used to dealing with people in masks, sighed dramatically.

“The one in all black. The crazy one that tried to kill your little glowing boy.”

Gotham Girl’s jo moved back to hover above Harley’s throat.

“No, I don’t know where he went.” the woman rolled her eyes. “Just know that it belon’ to ‘im, yah know? I don’t like ‘im any more than yah crazy bats. Can I go yet?”

Gotham Girl scowled, and slammed her jo into Harley’s temple.

* * *

“I’d appreciate it if you didn’t leave bodies up here.” Commissioner Gordon said drily, staring down at the limp form of Harley Quinn. “You know, I actually don’t know what she did this time. Other then breaking out again."

Gotham Girl, perched on the edge of the roof, didn’t respond, as the commissioner lifted his radio to his mouth, and started to speak into it, requesting a pair of officers to deal with Harley. By the time he looked up, the girl had vanished, and he shrugged, used to it.

But when he looked back over at where she’d been, after the officers and Harley had left, he found her, still sitting there. Her head was bowed, and he realised she’d changed her clothes, wearing street clothes, not the uniform he was used to. One of those brown jackets, one of the suede ones, jeans, a pair of hot pink gloves, and a toque pulled over her ears.

“Kid?” he asked, stepping closer. “You feeling okay?”

She didn’t speak, or indicate that she’d heard him, which was worrying. So he stepped up beside her, studying her expression.

It was blank. Her eyes were staring straight ahead, and slightly down, and he realised they were watering, the cold wind digging into her eyes and causing the reflex. “Kid?”

“Yeah?” she said suddenly, head coming up, one hand sweeping across her face, trying to hide the tears. “What is it?”

“You okay?”

“Yeah.” she murmured. “Totally fine. Um… I have to go.”

“Alright.” he said, and then she leaned forwards. She plummeted, falling through the air, almost like she didn’t care. His heart clenched as she tumbled through the air, wondering if this would be the time a bat didn’t fly, and fell instead.

But as she neared the ground, she fired out a line, and swooped down to the empty street, landing on the sidewalk. Her line retreated back into her hand, and she started to walk away. Like any other person.

* * *

Claire found herself on her bed at the mansion. Staring at the ceiling, her phone playing music at top volume, her headphones clamped down over her ears.

She stared at the ceiling, mouthing the words to the song playing, trying to just… get out of everything. Forget everything.

Maybe that was why people liked to get high. She could understand the appeal of just… not having to deal with any of the pain. And if she had the energy to get up, she might have actually gone and tried to get high. Or drunk. She’d seen Jason drunk once. It’d been interesting. And he’d seemed happy enough.

“Hey, young blood.” she sang, along with the newest song. “Doesn’t it feel like our time is running out? I’m gonna change you like a remix.”

Her voice cracked, and her throat tightened, but she kept singing along with the catchy lyrics. She hadn’t realised Fall Out Boy could be so sad. “I think it looked a little better on me.

“I’m gonna change you like a remix.

“Then raise you like a phoenix.”

There she stared at the ceiling as the song ended, eyes teary. “Fuck the world. Fuck the fucking fucking world.”

A moment later someone was touching her shoulder, and she reacted.

Duke remained perfectly still, even with the flat of Claire’s _tanto dagger’s_ blade pressing down on his neck, the blade pressing against his jaw. He was on his back on her bed, one of her legs across his chest, bare foot pinning one hand, the other held down by her knee.

Claire’s expression was furious, teeth bared, and her headphones were still on, blocking any noise that Duke would have made. Noise cancelling ones, actually.

She rolled off of him, sheathing her tanto, and pressing a button on the headphones, pausing her music, before she pulled them off, letting them hang around her neck. “What are you doing here?”

“You’re not a great singer.” he answered, sitting up and rubbing his throat. “I forgot about the tanto.”

“No shit.” Claire croaked, out, leaning back against her headboard, tanto in her lap. She studied the case, and unsheathed it partially, revealing the slightly wavy pattern that appeared in the light. “I hate this blade.”

“Then why carry it around?”

“So when I find the person who murdered my brother,” Claire growled, slamming the blade back into its sheath, the traditional elegant patterns of the hilt and protective covering familiar. “I can hold it to their throat, and threaten them with the mercy they never showed him.”

“Huh.” Duke blinked. “That’s a fair reason to carry around the blade that… you know.”

“Yeah.” Claire said. “I know.”

They looked at each other for a moment.

“Stephanie says you’re thinking about bad things.”

“Stephanie,” Claire said, eyes narrowing. “Can go shove her _karambit_ up her ass for all I care.”

Duke sighed dramatically, and fell back against Claire’s bed. “I love this family.”

Claire glowered at him. “We’re not a family, you moron. We’re a group of emotionally handicapped psychopaths who are completely insane and the only reason we don’t kill is because we think we’re better than other people.”

Duke frowned. “Aren’t we?”

“No. We’re just as bad.”

* * *

Stephanie Brown landed on an apartment building's roof. It was early morning, but Gotham’s weather had two settings; cloudy, and raining. If the weather was something other than that, (other then snow in the winter) then something was dreadfully wrong and everyone in the city would be on edge, waiting for it.

Stephanie had been unlucky enough (or lucky enough, depending on your outlook) to get the second setting, which was rain. Pouring rain. Yes, her uniform was waterproofed, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t hate it. Mostly because they still hadn’t figured out how to waterproof hearing aids, and therefore in weather like the present, she had to remove them.

Her uniform was rather basic. It consisted of a black, form-fitting base, which was technically two pieces, despite looking like one. Dark purple plating and a matching cloak and hood, she wore a metal mask over her mouth and nose, doubling as a gas mask.

Leaning over the edge of the roof, she crouched, studying the building across the alleyway, thoughtful. Then, gracefully, and silently, she jumped across the space between buildings. She cut through the rain, and plummeted. Grabbing onto the base of the fire escape with both hands, she cut her forward momentum off, kicking backwards instead.

She performed a backwards tuck, holding onto her knees, and landed delicately on the railing of the fire escape of the building she’d started on. Then, she crouched on it, balancing carefully, and withdrew a small device from her pockets, holding it up to her eye, and flicking it on.

It allowed her to see into the apartment one floor down and across. An apartment she’d been keeping an eye on for several months. Artemis Crock’s apartment. Granted, Paula, Artemis’ mother, was in a wheelchair, and reformed, and Cheshire hadn’t been at the apartment for nearly a year, and Sportsmaster hadn’t for even longer, but it was still a good idea to keep an eye on the building. Not because Stephanie didn’t trust the occupants; but because she was aware of what could happen to them. And the silent alarms she’d planted outside the building had turned on, only fifteen minutes prior.

Sportsmaster. 

He was facing off with Artemis, Paula off to the side, holding Artemis’ bow in her hands, an arrow pointed at her former love, quiver in her lap. Stephanie had to hand it to the woman; she had guts.

And while Stephanie was currently as deaf as a rock, she could lip read. But, she could not lip read through the man’s mask. Nevertheless, his intent was clear, and she neatly put her watching device away, preparing to fight.

With that, she jumped, throwing a _paku_. It was a small object, about twelve centimetres long, pointed at one end. The blade cut through the window’s glass, and planted itself in the floor, by Sportsmaster’s foot, and Spoiler landed on the fire escape, before throwing herself into the room in a dive.

She rolled over her shoulder, cloak absorbing and softening the impact, protecting her face from the glass shards scattered across the floor. And then she was on her feet, in a low crouch, both hands stretched forwards, having thrown another pair of paku, one from each hand.

Sportsmaster swung his weapon, a spiked sort of meteor hammer, and both paku were hit out of the air, sticking into the walls instead. Undeterred, Spoiler threw herself to the side, rolling over her shoulder, and coming up, releasing another paku at him.

He deflected, nearly hitting his wife, and Spoiler growled to herself. She couldn’t risk hurting Paula - although the woman could probably still catch knives - or Artemis - who definitely hadn’t gotten that far in her training.

Sportsmaster tilted his head as she rose into a fighting stance, and she got the feeling he was talking, but she hadn’t put her hearing aids back in, and his mouth was hidden. So she assumed it was something rude, and lunged at him, jumping slightly and twisting in the air, slashing down with her karambit.

Her karambit was a modern one, a knife with a curved blade like a claw, and a ring on the end to put a finger in, making it harder to disarm. It was considered more instinctive then other weapons, something that was debatable, but Spoiler believed to be true, since she was self-taught for it.

She slashed at him, ducking and spinning and lunging back and forth, almost like she was dancing. Stephanie was moving on sight, smell, touch, and muscle memory. She couldn’t hear any of the signals other people would use in a fight, so she had to compensate.

The meteor hammer swung at her ankles, and she jumped, twisting in the air, almost horizontal, and threw a paku, landing away from Sportsmaster, in a crouch, karambit before her, leaning back.

The paku had caught him in the side of the head, shearing a line of blond hair off, along with drawing blood. The man took a step back, one hand lifting to feel the cut. He seemed to glare at her, and she drew her second karambit, holding it behind her, hidden by her cloak and torso, waiting to see what he’d do.

He ran, throwing a metal disk at her. She flipped on instinct, kicking herself up into the air, and it flew under her, crashing into the wall, before spewing gas. She rose, stalking forwards, and then lunged, slashing twice, with both blades.

Nothing.

The smoke cleared, and Spoiler hid both knives, turning to Artemis, and Paula.

“Who.” Artemis said, Spoiler reading her lips. “Are you?”

Spoiler couldn’t exactly reply, so instead, she simply pulled out a small object from her belt, and held it up, showing it to the two women. A metal batarang. Spoiler didn’t have many of them, and only really used them to confirm to people whose side she was on.

“You’re one of Batwomans?”

Huh. Usually Bruce’s identity was called on first. Apparently, Kate had made an impression. Spoiler nodded, and twisted her wrist, lowering her hand to her side. The batarang pressed against the inside of her wrist, hidden from view.

“Can’t speak?”

Spoiler shrugged. Then, she turned to the wall where the disk had landed. She pointed there, and then looked back at the two others, tilting her head in an exaggerated motion.

Artemis’ head dropped, and she said something, but Spoiler couldn’t read her lips from that angle. Whatever. She turned, and started towards the window, feeling the glass shards crackle under her feet.

A hand grabbed her shoulder, and she whipped around, the batarang’s wing pressed against Artemis’ throat. The girl stared at her. “What are you doing?”

Unable to communicate the answer, Spoiler shrugged, and pushed Artemis away, before she climbed out the window. Partially over the fire escape railing, she glanced back, to see Artemis starting after her. Poor girl. Had no idea how skilled she was, did she?

Spoiler slid off the railing, and fired a grapple, swinging into the air, and landing on another rooftop, already sprinting across the slick rooftops. She glanced back, checking for Artemis, but there was nothing, nothing at all. She turned around, and kept running.

She had to step carefully, making sure that she didn’t lose traction on the wet tiles and gravel and smooth, slick roofs of Gotham, the dark, brooding air that the city gave off making her job harder.

The entire city subscribed to an aesthetic that basically equalled ‘fuck Metropolis’.

Just about every building was black and white in colour. Most had at least one gargoyle of some kind built into them, and if not, the citizens had put one there themselves. It was a common urban myth in Gotham that the gargoyles drove out outsiders, which was something that all Gotham-born citizens liked to hear. They didn’t like outsiders. Not at all.

There was an entire subreddit devoted to driving them off, actually. Stephanie had spent more than her fair share of time on it, just scrolling, watching the videos and pictures and memes and reading the stories of people getting freaked out by the locals.

But the aesthetic was mainly targeted towards Metropolis. At one point, Gotham had even gotten its hands on a stash of kryptonite somehow, and had been planning on covering the city with the material. People had been all for the idea, because, as a popular YouTuber put it; ‘We got a family of kick-ass bats, we don’t need aliens who can’t even punch right’. Said YouTuber’s video had been analysing footage of the bats in battle compared to Superman, and critiquing the alien.

It was a very popular video.

Stephanie jumped into a back alley, where she had a spare set of clothes stored. Landing by a dumpster, she laid down on her stomach on the wet stone, reaching one arm into the space, and fumbling for a strap. She found it, and pulled. A small, rectangular bag-like object slid out, and she unzipped it, revealing a set of clothes.

Changing was easy enough. She just had to remove her cape and hood, mask and belt, and then unzip her uniform’s shirt, revealing a white tank top. Pulling a long sleeved top out of the bag, she tied her hair back in a ragged ponytail, and added a leather jacket, before she got out of her waterlogged boots and pants, pulling warmer jeans over her leggings.

Her clothes were slightly damp from the rain by the time she got them on, and she had to wring out her socks and put them back on along with her boots, but it was good enough and she put the bag back, after pulling out a small box.

Starting down the street, she popped the lid of the box open, revealing a set of hearing aids. With a sigh of relief, Stephanie hooked the processors around the outside of her ear, and clipped the transmitters to her head. Most transmitters just used a magnetic connection to hold on, but Stephanie’s also had clips, allowing them to stay on even in the worst of situations.

She turned them on, and winced at the noise of the world.

As the noise of rain filled her mind, and her footsteps and the noise of other pedestrians and the cars and the noise of the city filled her, she remembered what it was like before she needed them. And after it.

She’d had to go through surgery for the implants. She had lost all hearing, and it had stayed gone for over two years. She knew she was lucky. That she had been able to hear at one point. That the surgery had worked. That she’d been able to… be Stephanie throughout it all.

But she didn’t feel lucky.

There was a difference between sound before, and sound after. Sound after was weird. Just… not quite right. It was a bit like putting on sunglasses with a set of blue or red lenses in. After a while, she got used to it.

She still missed being able to hear. Speak. Maybe… not speaking had caused a mental block. Maybe the injury had also broken her brain. Maybe… she wasn’t brave enough to try speaking.

She had no idea.

But she missed it. Signing wasn’t the same. People had to look at you when you signed, ignoring you was easy. And people who just knew the alphabet were… cute but unhelpful.

Stephanie pulled her jacket tighter around herself as a car splashed past, nearly spraying her with muddy water. She let out a sigh, head bowed down. Sportsmaster probably wouldn’t come around again. He was in upper circles, he knew what the bats were capable of. He wouldn’t want them following him.

He’d be gone for a while.

That was good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Claire uses a form of Aikido, a defensive martial art. It has few kicks if any, and uses turning motions, pushing, and joint locks, making your opponent knock themselves out, more or less. Also, for anyone interested? I wrote the last chapter by taking inspiration from Winter Soldier music videos. For Claire, I watched a lot of Avatar and Legend of Korra. Stephanie got ChilledCow.
> 
> And I have met people with hearing loss around Stephanie's age. Two classmates, one of their younger sisters, and my sister's teammate, all use hearing aids. Only one has implants such as this, and my knowledge is not very extensive. I know any kind of hearing aid (that I know of) can’t go in water. One of my classmates is a competitive swimmer, and she has to take hers out for that. But if my information is incorrect, I do encourage you to speak up, because I am branching out here. Normally, I’d only write what I know, because I don’t want to spread incorrect information. So please do speak up if you know I’m wrong. Thanks.


	4. Chapter 4

“Damnit.” Hawkfire growled, bracing her feet on the ground, ears not even ringing. Thank god for Red Robin and Oracle’s comms; Canary proof. New addition after the Amazo fiasco. “Alright Canary. Let’s go.”

“We don’t have time for this!” Zatanna shouted from behind her, louder than necessary, but they’d just been hit by Dianah’s Cry, so Hawkfire was willing to give her a free pass, just this once. “We gotta go!”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Hawkfire muttered. Then, ignoring the magician, she charged. Straight at Black Canary.

Hawkfire jumped, landing on the table that had previously held Red Tornado’s fake-human robot, and in two strides, had crossed it, kicking off the end. She flew through the air, knee up, and crashed into the woman, sending them both to the ground. Before Canary could do anything to her, she rolled away, and green smoke filled the air around the woman. “Rocket!”

A semi-clear blue orb formed around Canary, encasing both her, and the mist. The teens still on the ground, rose to their feet, staring at the woman as she coughed, then fell, knocked out. The gas swirled in the orb, Rocket unwilling to let go just yet.

“She attacked us?” Artemis demanded. “Why?”

“That is the least of our problems.” Red Tornado intoned from the ground, pushing his upper half up, his lower half separated from it. “We must leave the Cave, _now_.”

“Take Sphere.” Hawkfire ordered, reaching into her belt. “Tie up Canary, get as far away as you can.”

She tossed a small object at Wally, who caught it. “When I call, make sure it’s me before you tell me anything. Got it?”

“Where are you going?” Wally called, as she sprinted for the Zeta Tubes. She turned, as it activated, and replied, just before she vanished.

“Gotham.”

* * *

Hawkfire crouched on a rooftop, partially hidden behind a gargoyle. Below her, a trio of vigilantes. Running around in broad daylight. Signal, Gotham Girl, and Bluebird.

Harper Row wasn’t an official vigilante. But she continually refused to back down, so they’d started to train and help her, because it was always nice to have a friend who could talk, and it was always nice not to have said friend die because she couldn’t kick ass.

They looked normal enough. And Hawkfire had the items necessary to beat them up - a quick trip to the Cave in secret had done that. She wasn’t risking fighting the others, no way could she win against them, even with Bruce’s plans. Well, she probably could win, but not 1v6.

She could, however, beat these three. Bluebird would be easiest, a simple nerve strike to her spine would do that, they’d taught her to defend her neck. Gotham Girl would be next, taken on at range. Hawkfire wasn’t willing to face her with her aikido and jo, not with Signal. And if they were being controlled, then they wouldn’t hold back on her. The Signal. All she’d have to do for him was overwhelm him, his meta-gene would make that easy. It had been proven that he struggled to keep track of the near-future and the present, sometimes pulling moves that would work in the future, but not the present.

Hawkfire stepped out, and jumped off her building, softening her landing with a quick boost from her jetpack, just before impact. She held one hand at her side, kunai hidden in her wrist.

All three turned to her. Hawkfire stopped, far enough away that she could throw her shurikens, and charge, confusing them by the double attack if necessary.

“Alpha.” she said carefully, enunciating it as well as she could. “Omega. Thirty. Four. Who’s your prime bat?”

Bluebird blinked at her in confusion, black jacket and blue jeans not quite fitting in with Signal and Gotham Girl. “Is she crazy?”

“Harriet.” Gotham Girl replied instead. “What’s the last thing my brother said to me before he died?”

Instead of answering, Hawkfire turned to Signal, who looked serious, and fairly worried, behind his mask. She kept the same, blank expression, emotionless. She wasn’t about to give anything away.

“Pop.” he said, in answer to her question. “What did I want to use first of all?”

Hawkfire nodded, relaxing, but only barely. She looked at Gotham Girl, who was on edge as she was. “You never told anyone. And you wanted to use a pair of _Huā Yāo Zi._ ” **(1)**

Silently, Hawkfire congratulated herself on her pronunciation of the name, since Chinese wasn’t her forte. Gotham Girl stepped forwards. “What’s happening?”

“The League is under mental attack.” Hawkfire said, not caring that Bluebird was right there as she walked forwards. “Some kind of mind control, it got RT and it got Canary. We believe Batman is also under the influence, we don’t know who else, maybe everyone.”

“What about the others?” Signal asked. Hawkfire shook her head.

“I’m not risking them being infected and having to fight them until we deal with the League. I left a message on the computer, hopefully they’ll manage to figure it out at some point. If they’re already under control, I don’t know.”

Hawkfire held out her hand, a pair of comms in it. “We can’t lurk in the shadows anymore, we need to stop this. Are you coming?”

“Hell yeah.” Gotham Girl said, taking one earpiece and sliding it in, opposite her Gotham comm. She ran a hand over her stubby hair, and forced a smile. “When else do I get to see the HQ?”

Signal took the second piece. “Can’t let you two go up on your own. What about Blue here?”

Bluebird flashed a peace sign as Hawkfire looked over at her. “Yo.”

Hawkfire pulled out a keychain. From it, three objects hung. One seemed to look like a car fob, one was a silver key, and one was a small metal bird in flight, done in purple. 

“This is for you. The key is for a safehouse, at 12th and Parrish St. And this -” she tapped the fob, causing it to sway. “- is a comm. If people come knocking, don’t let them in unless they’re one of us, and even then, make sure it’s really us. Ask _as many_ questions as you possibly can, make questions up. Do not trust anyone. Do you understand?”

The previous Hawkfire was gone. This Hawkfire was the niece of a soldier, who, granted, had been kicked out, but she was still a soldier. This Hawkfire was the girl who’d willingly challenged a Talon, not because she could beat him, but because she knew that she could survive it. And she was the girl who’d not only survived that fight, but won it, after nearly half a day of endless battling.

“Got it.” Bluebird nodded. “This mean I’m a Gotham vigilante?”

Hawkfire’s eyes burned into her. “No. You’ve always been one. Go.”

Bluebird smirked, and turned, keychain held tight in her fist. She sprinted across the rooftop, and jumped to another building, parkouring across it, and vanishing into the city. Gotham Girl swallowed, drawing Hawkfire’s attention back to her.

“So.” the blue-clad girl said, running a hand through her hair again. “What’s the plan?”

Hawkfire held her Young Justice comm up. Unlike her Gotham one, and general comm, it looked like the fob she’d given to Bluebird. Clicking one button on it, she spoke into it like it was a mike.

“Hawkfire.”

There was a beat.

“What was Kid Flash’s souvenir on your first real mission with us?” Artemis’ voice came through, along with the sound of wind. “You have five seconds.”

Good job Artemis. Hawkfire mused, before answering. “That hat. Gorilla-lice.”

A chuckle from the other end. “Gonna confirm us?”

“Oh, yes. Give me… hm, give me Zatanna.”

There was a pause, and then Zatanna’s voice came up. “Here.”

“Explain the trick I taught you after the bioship went down. Now.”

“Ah…” Zatanna said, clearly not prepared for that question of all things. Gotham Girl and Signal exchanged looks, amused. “Tap eyelids to dislodge water?”

“Is that a question?”

“No.”

“Good. Meet me on the roof of Wayne Enterprises. Artemis knows where it is. Is Canary secure?”

“Everyone’s secure.” Zatanna assured her. “At least… we are. We don’t know about the others. They haven’t responded to any of our hails.”

Hawkfire sighed, finger off the button that let the others hear her. She considered briefly, then held the button down. “Ignore them. Ditch anything they can track you off of, we can’t trust them until we have a curse, do you understand?”

“Got it. See you in Gotham.”

Hawkfire dropped the comm on the ground, and crushed it under her foot, before looking to her siblings. “Ready to be introduced to the team?”

“Definitely a no.” Signal admitted. “But at the same time, yes, can we do it already?”

Gotham Girl shrugged. “I don’t know them, can’t really say. Top of WE? We’ll have to hurry, that’s pretty far from here.”

* * *

“Right here.”

The voice was familiar to Zatanna, who turned and smiled at the blond, but the smile fell, at the sight of the two people beside her. A boy, in yellows and whites and blacks, and a girl, in blues and blacks. Other heroes? 

“Signal, Gotham Girl.” Hawkfire said, gesturing to each one in turn. “Meet the Team. Team, meet my siblings.”

“You have siblings?” Artemis blurted, and all three let out sighs.

“Yes.” Gotham Girl said.

“Unfortunately.” Hawkfire agreed.

“Murder attempts are normal.” Signal added, smiling far too brightly for someone who’d just said something like that. Far too brightly. “I mean, a couple of assassins, daughter of a supervillain, and so on, so don’t worry.”

Artemis blanched, and the three Gothamites seemed to be confused by the team's utter confusion at their nonchalant attitude. Well, Raquel didn’t seem confused by the three; she seemed surprised that the Team hadn’t known more than anything. Gotham Girl spoke up. “What?”

“Why did you never tell us you had siblings?” Zatanna asked. Hawkfire shrugged.

“Silent gag order. Technically. That and well… our siblings are kind of…”

“Eccentric?” Gotham Girl suggested.

“Odd?” Signal offered.

“Unusual.” Hawkfire settled on. “Now, shall we go fix this problem, or are you going to gawk at us for the next hour?”

* * *

“We’re in.” Signal reported, a holographic computer hovering above his wrist. “RT bypassed security. Nobody knows we’re here.”

“Where’s the rest of the Team?” Artemis asked, voice quiet. Signal started to flick through different screens, searching.

“Uh… two floors up. They’re doing something to the Tower’s systems. Can you guys take them?”

He looked to the Team members at that. Zatanna, Rocket, Kid Flash and Artemis all exchanged glances. Artemis nodded. “Easily enough.”

“Good.” Signal said. “The three of us will take out Plastic Man, the Atom, and Hawkman. Meetup at the elevator, here. You got it?”

“Why are you giving us orders?” Kid Flash demanded. Signal shut off his hologram with a tap, and turned to glare at the ginger.

“Do you have a better plan? If so, go right ahead and tell me! Until then, shut. Your. Mouth.”

“He’s stressed.” Gotham Girl dismissed.

“Like you haven’t been moping in your room and attacking people who come to check on you.”

“That’s literally only you, and what did you expect?’

“Not a tanto at my throat, that’s for sure.”

“Enough.” Hawkfire ordered, growing at Gotham Girl. “How’d you get a tanto in your room anyways, there’s a no-weapons rule in the house.”

“Sentimental value.”

“She wants to make the guy who killed Gotham piss himself in fear with it.” Signal told Hawkfire, who groaned. “My thoughts exactly.”

“Whatever.” Hawkfire said, standing up straight. “Let’s get going.”

* * *

Hawkfire charged forwards first, straight at her cousin. Everyone in the League though they were niece and aunt, but no. Cousins. But it was a layer of security if everyone thought that their relationship was different.. She jumped, knee up, and landed. Batwoman avoided the move, simply moving back, out of the way. Undeterred, Hawkfire whipped around, and snapped her foot around, clipping her aunt’s jaw. Before her kicking foot even touched down, she’d jumped off her other, kicking it forwards, and catching Batwoman in the chest, sending her backwards.

Batwoman lunged forwards, throwing two swift punches. Hawkfire leaned to the side, out of the way of the first, and blocked the second at the wrist with her flat palm. She tried to wrap her fingers around the woman’s wrist, but ended up failing, as Batwoman turned, and yanked hard, throwing her niece over her shoulder.

Hawkfire held onto Batwoman’s arm with both hands, and rolled up onto her shoulders, kicking both feet up, nearly clocking her in the face, a move that was barely dodged. As it was, Hawkfire landed on her feet, in such a position that she could throw Batwoman.

Hawkfire was holding onto Batwoman’s wrist, her arm across the blond's shoulder, while Hawkfire’s other hand gripped the woman around her ribcage. WIth a yell of fury and exertion, Hawkfire lifted Batwoman off her feet, an impressive task, considering the woman had a good deal of weight and height on her. Then, she managed to judo-throw her, slamming her into the concrete.

Hawkfire fell onto the woman with her momentum, causing Batwoman to wheeze, and forced herself to her feet, transitioning into an armbar, and starting to pull. “Signal!"

The yellow clad hero was otherwise occupied, darting between Wonder Woman and Green Arrow, struggling to stay on his feet. He slid between the two, baseball style, and his feet hit the wall. He shoved himself to his feet, and pressed his back against the wall, sparring only a glance at Hawkfire, a clear warning. Busy.

She’d have to deal with it on her own.

Just then, Batwoman broke out of the hold, and rolled onto her niece, straddling her. Hawkfire gagged as the woman pulled out a square chip, and started to lower it to her face. She had no choice.

Hawkfire whipped out her kunai, the blade having been hid in the gold across her chest, and stabbed it into the side of Batwoman’s upper thigh.

The woman let out a cry, chip falling to the ground, and Hawkfire pulled her legs up, wrapping them around her aunt’s torso, locking her ankles together. She twisted, slamming the woman into the ground beside her, and let go, flipping to her feet, grabbing the chip on her way.

She snapped the device in half, and started to back away from Batwoman’s body. The two started to circle each other.

Hands up in fists, kunai in hand, Hawkfire glared at the body before her. “You’re not my aunt. So I don’t feel bad about this.”

She charged forwards, kunai at the ready. She jumped, kicking in the air, and Batwoman - she was still going to call her that, it was easier - jumped aside, avoiding the kick. Hawkfire landed in a crouch, one hand on the ground for balance, and swept her aunt’s legs, before she flipped backwards over her hand, landing in a fighting stance, and slamming her foot into Batwoman’s shins. 

Batwoman retaliated, slamming a fist into Hawkfire’s gut, and trying to cuff her across the face. Hawkfire blocked, with the hand that held her kunai, and pressed the blade into the uniform’s sleeve, nearly cutting it.

Batwoman drew back, and the two started trading punches. Jab, block, duck, jab, jab. Until Batwoman flat out clotheslined her niece, sending Hawkfire sprawling to the ground. The move had enough force and speed to completely flip her around, causing her to land on her stomach, not her back. Instantly, Hawkfire kicked herself forwards, rolling over one shoulder, and drew a pair of throwing stars in her free hand.

The moment she stopped the move, in a crouch, she flicked both stars, sending them at Batwoman, who dodged. Then, she jumped at her, activating her jetpack for an extra boost. Instead of hitting Batwoman, she soared over her, and rolled on landing, charging forwards instantly.

The battle was back on. Except Hawkfire was on the offensive, a bit more permanently. She slashed and stabbed with her kunai, tossing a handful of _Makibishi_ and then sweeping her leg, holding it above the ground. Batwoman hit the ground, but kicked her legs up, landing back on her feet, only to get an elbow into the face, Hawkfire bowling her over.

They crashed to the ground, and Batwoman managed to use Hawkfire’s momentum against her, sending her over her. Hawkfire spun as she landed, digging her kunai into the concrete in an attempt to slow her momentum.

She panted, slowly standing up, yanking her blade from the concrete. She stared down her aunt, who took up a fighting stance. Again.

Screw this.

Hawkfire yelled, and stepped forwards, throwing her kunai at Batwoman’s face. Without even seeing the result, she jumped into the air, activating her jetpack, and twisting, so that she was upside down. She landed on the ceiling for a single moment, and kicked off of it, blasting downwards, jetpack off.

She flipped through the air, landing feet first, and slamming a chip of her own on her aunt’s chest, where it melted through the suit, combining with her nervous system.

Done.

* * *

Signal grunted, taking a fist to his jaw. He stumbled back, arms up and blocked the kick that followed up the first strike. He ducked the second kick, and swept Red Arrow’s legs out from under him. The man hit the ground hard, and Signal lunged for him, pulling out a chip, aiming for his skin. Roy swatted his hand away, punched him in the face, and followed up with a kick to Signal’s side, sending him flying. 

“Dang it.” Signal muttered, slapping the ground. He shoved himself to his feet, and reached up, hitting the release for his helmet. The cracked lenses shattered on the floor, revealing his face, covered only by a dark yellow mask. “C’mon man, that the best you can do?”

Red Arrow drew an arrow, and released it. Signal lunged out of the way, and dove forwards, rolling out of the path of the next three. He came up beside Red Arrow, and landed a fist into the man’s gut, sending him stumbling back. Signal followed up with a back kick to the same spot, then jumped, kicking off his knee, and slamming his kneecap into Roy’s nose.

The archer dropped his bow, and Signal grabbed it, smashing it across the man's arm, and discarding it. Red Arrow drew two sharp arrows, and slashed them through the air.

"Whoa!"

Signal danced backwards, executing a handspring. He landed in a crutch, the arrows jabbing above his head, and swept his leg. Red Arrow dodged, and Signal jabbed a flat palm at the man's throat, trying to execute a nerve strike. Both arrows crossed around his wrist, and twisted, yanking him towards Red Arrow. A knee sank into his gut and he fell to the ground.

Winded, he rolled away, before the arrows could find a place in his chest. Coughing, he rose. "Are you even trying to infect me anymore, or just kill me?"

The two arrows that were thrown at his head answered the question. "Great."

Signal started to throw everything at Red Arrow. Not that he hadn't already been doing it, but this time, he threw every single thing at the man. Everything he had, every trick, every move, every tactic, every step, jabbing and kicking and blocking. He'd lost his weapons ages ago, forced to go hand against weapons, the archer having drawn a knife.

Someone dropped from above, landing on Red Arrow. They scrambled for balance, managing to jump off, and land before Signal. He grabbed them under their arms, supporting them. "What are you doing here?"

"Trust me, I didn't plan on coming." Gotham Girl grumbled, standing on her own. "M'gann got her uncle before I fell, so I think we're just about done now."

The two of them darted in opposite directions as Red Arrow lunged at them, circling around to be behind him. Gotham Girl drew the short tanto blade from her hip, twirling it around. Signal drew a pair of throwing stars, and took a deep breath, forcing his breathing to even out. "Alright."

"Ohana bitches?"

"Ohana bitches."

* * *

“So.” Zatanna said, coming up beside Hawkfire, who was leaning on the railing, looking down at Earth. “You alright?’

Hawkfire was dressed like a regular person for once. Wearing a pair of black jeans, runners, and a leather jacket, she looked normal. Not like she could kick your ass without really trying.

She didn’t look at the magician. “I’ve fought my aunt before. Never like this, though. I had -” she paused, searching for the words. “Family, I guess. No offence, but… I think you know what I mean.”

Zatanna huffed in amusement. “Yeah. I do.”

The two girls were quiet for a while, and then Hawkfire let out a small laugh. Zatanna looked over at her, a small smile on her lips. “What?”

“This is insane.” Hawkfire said, gesturing out at their view. “I’m on a top-secret satellite base above Earth, I just fought my aunt who tried to kill me, because a semi-immortal madman and a demonic teenager with his cat tried to take over the world.”

She sighed, head dropping. “And nobody on this satellite knows who I am.”

“Your… friends don’t?”

“They’re back in Gotham. Everyone who knows who I am is gone now.” Hawkfire admitted, tracing circles on the railing as she spoke, not meeting Zatanna’s eyes. “I’m the exact opposite of you, you know that? Your name is your hero name, your dad was a stage magician in his day job, you probably will be too, you barely have any secrets.”

Hawkfire shook her head, blond curls shaking slightly with the motion. “My parents think I’m at my aunts for the summer. Not… punching people on the streets. My best friend thinks I’m a selfish asshole because I can’t tell her the truth about what I can do. My entire life is a lie, the only thing you’re allowed to know about me is my hair color and how good I am at kicking people's asses.”

“Sounds lonely.” Zatanna observed, leaning back against the railing, her arms crossed. “Really lonely.”

“Yeah.” Hawkfire sighed, closing her eyes. “Sometimes I wish I could go back to who I was before all this. Before… Hawkfire. But I can’t. And the truth is I get high off of it. Nothing really compares to this job, you know?”

“Yeah.” Zatanna said quietly.

They stood in silence for a while, just existing with each other.

“So.” Hawkfire said carefully, looking over at Zatanna. “About that date?”

“Offers still open.” Zatanna replied, grinning at the blond. She lifted a hand into the air, like a stage magician about to bow. “If you’re into that kind of thing, of course.”

“Well, I’m not against trying it.” Hawkfire said, smiling. “You know a place?”

“Do I _ever_.” Zatanna beamed, standing straight and offering Hawkfire her arm. “But totally not like this.”

Hawkfire laughed. “Have any magic left?”

“Maybe.” Zatanna smirked, and gestured to herself. “ _Egnach into sehtolc!_ ”

Pale violet smoke wrapped around her, and then faded, revealing a simple t-shirt and leggings combination, her magicians uniform gone. Hawkfire nodded. “Much better.”

“So…” Zatanna started as they headed inside. “What do I call you, on this date, the ever elusive Hawkfire?”

“Liz.”

“That your real name?”

“It’s pretty close.”

“I can live with that. For now.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah. I put them together. Kind of. I’ve always felt that Zatanna was at least bi, if not totally a lesbian, and I’ve always thought Raquel was gay for her too. Usually I wouldn’t mess up their sexual orientation, but people do experiment. I mean, if they didn’t, I wouldn’t have my parents. And Bette, I’m fairly certain, is canonically straight, but I think I set her up in chapter two to be experimenting, just how she and Zatanna interacted? Maybe it’s a bit forced, I’m pretty bad at romance.
> 
> (1) Huā Yāo Zi are a Chinese weapon that are kind of like miniature handheld sickles. The name literally translates to Binding Flower Waist Carry. Also called chicken sickles.


End file.
